Popular Translations
Muhammad Asad
The same did say [to themselves many of] those who lived before their time; but of no avail to them was all that they had ever achieved
Arthur John Arberry
So said those that were before them; but that they earned did not avail them
Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
Thus did the (generations) before them say! But all that they did was of no profit to them
Arabic
قَدۡ قَالَهَا ٱلَّذِینَ مِن قَبۡلِهِمۡ فَمَاۤ أَغۡنَىٰ عَنۡهُم مَّا كَانُوا۟ یَكۡسِبُونَ ٥٠
Transliteration (2021)
qad qālahā alladhīna min qablihim famā aghnā ʿanhum mā kānū yaksibūn